Our Story

After being involved through their local church in a needs distribution project in the Houston China town area, our founders, Marcelo and Lisa Galvao, felt compelled to do more. The Galvao family began giving their time by playing with the kids in the cul-de-sac of a recent immigrant apartment community. Coach Marcelo and his two sons would play soccer with the boys, and Mrs. Lisa and their daughter would play jump rope and hopscotch and read books on the side with the girls. From these humble beginnings,

All Nations Sports Academy (ANSA) was born.

Officially launched in July 2014 as an initiative of the Stoller Foundation, ANSA held its first community event in September of that same year and began offering its developmental soccer program (a free, in-house league which features a Biblically-based, life-coaching curriculum) at two sites in Houston—one in the Sharpstown/China town area and one in the Spring Branch area. Within three months, 408 youth were registered with ANSA.

On January 20th, 2015, ANSA officially received its 501(c)3 status from the U.S. government. Later that spring, ANSA added two more sites in the Alief school district, and by June 2015, 587 youth were registered with 129 volunteers participating.

Since the summer of 2015, ANSA, in partnership with the Stoller Foundation, has sent nearly 100 children and youth to attend an overnight summer camp experience. Additionally, since 2015, ANSA has partnered with Revival Sport to host the annual Houston Community Cup of Nations, and ANSA has been instrumental in developing the Youth Cup of Nations’ portion of this indoor futsal tournament.

In 2016, ANSA had 849 kids registered with 214 volunteers involved and began its competitive soccer program, now known as the ANSA Lions, as a way to provide additional opportunities for youth who demonstrated the ability and had the desire to take their game to the next level. Furthermore, the competitive program provided another platform to reach out to a broader spectrum of youth and their families, creating further opportunities to engage in socioeconomic and cultural exchanges among the very diverse players’ backgrounds and life experiences.

In 2017, ANSA began hosting college soccer nights to help current high school players achieve this dream. Also, in 2017, two ANSA competitive teams, featuring players who came through ANSA’s developmental program, were recognized in their respective divisions by receiving first place.

In March 2018, ANSA began its recreational program, the Cubs and Cubbies, focusing on children ages 4-10 years old.

Currently, ANSA has seven developmental program sites, two competitive program sites, and two recreational program sites, which regularly serve over 400 children and youth on a weekly basis. On a monthly basis, ANSA hosts Discovery Events to provide a fun, safe environment for all family members to participate in and to learn more about Biblical values.

As programs and services have expanded, the heart of ANSA is still very much the same as our beginnings; we do what we do out of a passion to meet people where they are at and share with them the Hope we have that reaches far beyond the field.